The friendship between the Calgary Flames GM and his new head coach made it the obvious hire when the club needed to replace Brent Sutter after the team missed the NHL playoffs for a third straight season in 2011-12.

But that relationship also puts the pair in the crosshairs should things go south at the Saddledome.

Feaster admitted it as much when Hartley was hired, saying, "If I'm put into a situation where I have to fire Bob Hartley, we can probably just help each other pack."

It was the same situation when former GM Darryl Sutter hired his brother.

But putting poker chips on Hartley is not the only gamble Feaster has made as the Flames head into Sunday's 48-game season-opener against the San Jose Sharks (4 p.m., Saddledome).

Considering this is an organization which has essentially spent to the salary cap the last three seasons and fallen short of the playoffs each time, Feaster and his braintrust has must shoot for long odds for some retooling.

This past summer, they made three big bets.

First was the free-agent signing of centre Roman Cervenka, whose debut is in limbo due to the blood-clot issues from which he's recovering.

Czech native Cervenka, a KHL star who turned 27 in December, was signed to a one-year contract. The deal -- a US$925,000 salary and bonuses worth up to $2.85 million, to be pro-rated for a 48-game season -- is good for the team in the sense that should Cervenka follow the path of Jiri Dopita and Fabian Brunnstrom and bomb out at the NHL level, he can be left along the wayside after one season.

The risk for this season, aside from his health, is the Flames have hope Cervenka will be on the first or second line. If he doesn't pan out, the team which already is thin up the middle is in an even worse jam.

The Flames made the decision to part ways with free agent Olli Jokinen which made room for Cervenka. Sure, Jokinen never really became the player in Calgary he was hoped to be, but at least they knew what they had.

The next big gamble was signing defenceman Dennis Wideman to a five-year, $26.25-million contract.

Wideman is coming off a 46-point season with the Washington Capitals and pegged to provide a huge boost to their floundering powerplay.

However, the knock on Wideman has been his defensive play, and all that money will look foolish if the powerplay doesn't make the difference in enough games.

Czech winger Jiri Hudler is another risk with a four-year, $16-million pact.

Hudler has the potential to give the team 30 goals, plus he has a great history in shootouts.

However, we've seen so many players who have scored elsewhere arrive in Calgary and come up shy of expectations. At least Hudler is coming from a winning team, in the Detroit Red Wings, as opposed to non-playoff Eastern Conference teams.

And then comes the situations with captain Jarome Iginla and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

We won't call them gambles, since it's pretty easy to guess what the club's big stars will provide.

However, there is plenty of uncertainty.

Will Iginla, due to be an unrestricted free-agent after this season, re-sign? Will he want to if the Flames don't make the playoffs again?

Will he be asked or request a trade at the deadline should it be obvious the Flames are not playoff contenders?

And Kiprusoff: Will he return for the final year of his contract? Will the team try and trade him and give the reins to Karri Ramo next year?

Will Kiprusoff hold up while playing more than 40 games in 97 days?

The Flames' decision to keep Iginla and Kiprusoff this long has been a risk.

Sure, they've been competitive enough to stay in the playoff hunt, but they've been unable to make the second season, and the window of opportunity to win a Cup appears to have shut.

Those bets went for naught.

The Flames need to win all their hands this time around or they'll have no hope of playing at the Stanley Cup table for a long time.

Flames GM Feaster plays role of Gambler

The friendship between the Calgary Flames GM and his new head coach made it the obvious hire when the club needed to replace Brent Sutter after the team missed the NHL playoffs for a third straight season in 2011-12.

But that relationship also puts the pair in the crosshairs should things go south at the Saddledome.

Feaster admitted it as much when Hartley was hired, saying, "If I'm put into a situation where I have to fire Bob Hartley, we can probably just help each other pack."

It was the same situation when former GM Darryl Sutter hired his brother.

But putting poker chips on Hartley is not the only gamble Feaster has made as the Flames head into Sunday's 48-game season-opener against the San Jose Sharks (4 p.m., Saddledome).